36 



$35.00 or $40.00 a thousand where great care is necessary. The 

 average figure would probably be between $20.00 and $25.00 

 per thousand trees, but this average cost is unnecessarily high. 

 This may be due to inexperience on the part of the planters, ex- 

 cessive care, the limited extent of the majority of the nurseries, 

 or faulty bookkeeping. One or two men, usually Japanese, are 

 employed to do the nursery work, and the entire wages of these 

 Japanese are credited to the nursery account. Frequently these 

 laborers do other work than raising trees, such as keeping the 

 grounds in order, general gardening, tending to irrigation 

 ditches, etc., and this, of course, is reflected in increased figures 

 for the value of young seedlings. In many cases the nursery 

 men could raise twice as many sedlings with practically the same 

 outlay if the nursery were managed on a wholesale basis. Since, 

 however, the planting done on most of the plantations is rather 

 limited in extent, there is no demand for large quantities of trees, 

 and the cost of the smaller number is proportionately increased. 



After careful figuring, the conclusion is reached that with few 

 exceptions trees can be raised in Hawaii for $10.00 a thousand 

 for commercial planting. This includes the raising of seedlings 

 in beds or boxes in the nursery and transplanting them in flats 

 or boxes when the trees are 2 or 3 inches high. Under excep- 

 tionally favorable conditions of tree growth this cost can be ma- 

 terially reduced. 



(b) The cost of planting trees will depend on the character 

 of the ground cover to be cleared, on the distance the plantation 

 is from the nursery, the ease with which trees may be grown in 

 a given locality, and on the extensiveness of the plantation. It 

 has been found to vary from $10 to $75 an acre. Under average 

 conditions it should be possible to clear the land and set out the 

 plants for $17 an acre, planted to 1,000 trees. This will include 

 a charge of $8 per acre to clear the land and plow, $8 per acre 

 to dig holes and plant the trees, and $1 per acre to transport the 

 seedlings from the nursery to the plantation. 



In many cases these figures will be found too low, especially 

 the figure for clearing the land and plowing it, in case of un- 

 usually heavy lantana, while in other cases the figures will be 

 much too high, but it is believed that planting on a commercial 

 scale can be done for these figures if proper care and economy 

 is exercised. 



(c) The expense involved in tending the grove after it is 

 once established consists of the cost of weeding or cultivating 

 for the first year or two after the trees are planted. The ex- 



